Visa Check Card Celebrates a Decade of Fast Growth

The Visa USA team marked the 10th anniversary of Visa's check card by releasing statistics and data on how fast the use of such cards has grown and how consumers are using it.

According to Visa, only 2 percent of people in 1995 used debit cards to make purchases. Today, about 167 million Americans have a Visa check card in their pocket or purse. Meanwhile, the number of financial institutions issuing such cards grew from over 2,700 in 1995, its first year, to 9,000 today.

The Visa survey also showed that:
More than ¾ of respondents in the current survey had used their Visa check card for Internet purchases (up from 44 percent in May 2002).

Sixty-three percent of respondents said their check card was their "preferred method of payment" (up from 46 percent in May 2002).

Most respondents named the check card "as important or more important" as these innovations: the iPod (84 percent); flat panel TV (81 percent); satellite TV (78 percent); and cell phones (65 percent).

Visa also released this interesting statistic, which shows that plastic may be saving trees: If all the Visa check card transactions completed over the past year were paper checks, they would weigh 7,135 tons.

Copyright © 2005 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 15, No. 11, 11/05